A few "unknowns". Suggestions? (add'l images added

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Charles Krebs
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A few "unknowns". Suggestions? (add'l images added

Post by Charles Krebs »

The latest sample I have been working has been full of trachelomonas and a variety of euglena.

These pictures are a few things I found that are puzzling for me. These were all pretty small, and photographed with the 100X objective. Scales bars are included to give a good size reference.

One species was very abundant and immediately made me think "dinoflagellate" under low magnification. But on closer examination it did not look like the ones I typically find (gymnodinium and peridinium). These were nearly perfectly spherical and without the obvious "plates" and "grooves". The closest "visual" match I could make is a euglena cyst ( see: http://starcentral.mbl.edu/microscope/p ... geid=13248 ), but the color of the ones I found are very much a golden brown, and they move about freely. (Amphidinium perhaps?) Here's a shot of one:

Image

The next puzzler clearly appeared to be euglena, but perhaps encysted in a manner I have not seen before. This "unit" did not move about, although there was slight movement of the individuals inside. Any thoughts as to what is going on here:

Image

The last is another one that I did not recognize. It was not very numerous in the sample but I photographed a couple of them. Suggestions?:

Image
Last edited by Charles Krebs on Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Jacek
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Post by Jacek »

last picture perfect, I really like the large increase

Pau
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Re: A few "unknowns". Suggestions?

Post by Pau »

Excellent.
Charles Krebs wrote: The next puzzler clearly appeared to be euglena, but perhaps encysted in a manner I have not seen before. This "unit" did not move about, although there was slight movement of the individuals inside. Any thoughts as to what is going on here:
8=2x2x2 :-k humm... may be the result of meiosis after conjugation?
Pau

Ecki
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Post by Ecki »

Excellent series of shots, Charlie.

The first image looks indeed like an euglenoid cyst. I have seen them in different colors, green, reddish, brownish.

The last image could be something like Pandorina morum flattened. I find them often in combination with Gonium pectorale. This too are eight individuals sharing a common home ;)

regards
Ecki

Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Ecki,
I have seen them in different colors, green, reddish, brownish.
Thanks for that. The color is really what threw me off.

And the last one is almost certainly Pandorina morum.

So that leaves just the second shot as something I am still curious about.

Bernd
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Post by Bernd »

Excellent shots, indeed.

The first one most likely is the cyst of a dinoflagellate of the genus Gymnodinium.
The second one is a Chlamydomonas undergoing cell division. After encystment they can divide up to 3 times forming 8 daughter cells.
The third shot shows Pandorina morum.

Bernd

René
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Post by René »

Hello Bernd, I don't come accross many gymnodioids with an eyespot, but that might be a something due to our preserbvation techniques. What species do you think of?

BTW, splendid images again, Charly!

Best wishes, René

Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Unfortunately I was not able to re-visit this sample to try for more detailed looks at #1 (above), so I went through the shots I had originally taken to find a few more examples. The first three below are other views of this subject.

The 4th image below shows synura with what are obviously two dinoflagellates that were present in the same sample.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Pau
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Post by Pau »

Excellent pictures again.
Am I seeing the chromosomes, in special in the first picture of the second series?
Pau

Bernd
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Post by Bernd »

In the top three added pictures you can very clearly see the condensed chromosomes in the middle of the cells. Permanently condensed chromosomes are typical for dinoflagellates. Thus, the objects shown are definitely dinoflagellate cysts, most likely of the species shown in the fourth image.

Bernd

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